Valve-controlling mechanism.



a. M. JONES. VALVE CONTROLLING MECHANISM.

APPLIOATIONIILED APR. 8, 1912.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENT- 67W 971 WITNESSES:

ATT'ORN'EA THE NORRIS PETERS CON F'HDTC-LITHO" WASHINGTON. D C.

AT T RNEY- ELMER M. JONES, or ATLANTA, enoncr COMPANY, or ATLANTA,GEORGI A, ASSIGNOR T0 JONES SIGNAL SYSTEM A, A CORPORATION OF GEORGIA.

VALVE-CONTROLLING- ME'CHANTSM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Application filed April 8, 1912. Seria1No.'G89,212.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER M. Jones, a citizen of the United States,residing at Atlanta, in the county of Fulton and State of Georgia, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Valve-ControllingMechanisms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to mechanism for enabling the automatic stoppingof moving vehicles, or the giving of a signal thereon while the vehicleis moving.

The invention comprises mechanism mounted on such moving vehicle andoperated by engagement with devices located along the trackway; moreparticularly the mechanism operates to open an air valve on the vehicleWhenever a track device is passed; then if such device is set forsafety, to immediately close the air valve, while if the device is setfor danger, the air valve is left open. When thus left open, theescaping air may cause the application of the brake or give a signal, asdesired.

The object of the invention is to provide the vehicle equipment in aform which, while being efficient in operation, shall be extremelysimple in construction, and have very few parts.

The invention is illustrated herein and hereinafter more fullydescribed, and its essential characteristics summarized in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the vehicleequipment. Fig. 2 is a plan thereof, sectioned through the inclosingcasing. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section, as indicated by theline 3-3 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is aside elevation of a vehicle truckequipped with my mechanism, and a track device to cofiperate therewith.Fig. '5 is a plan of the track device. Fig. 6 is a perspective of thevalve opened, its seat being shown in elevation.

As shown in the drawings, 10 represents a suitable casing, adapted to besecured to the moving vehicle. This casing is of approximatelyrectangular form, being in efi'ect a narrow box open at the bottom. Thecasing may be secured in various ways to the vehicle. Fig. 4 shows itattached to the truck, which I have found satisfactory.

indicates the casing of an air valve. This casingi's shown as providedwith two flaring webs 21, which are secured by screws or bolts to theinner and outer walls 13 and 14 of the casing. The valve chamber has afiat annular face 23, surrounding a central opening 24, whichcommunicates by passage-ways with the air pipe 26. The valve is closedby a cap 30, which seats on an annular face 23. This cap has an annularflange 31, adapted to loosely occupy an annular groove in the valvecasing. hen the cap is held firmly on the annular seat 23, the valve isclosed. When it is tipped from that seat, the valve is opened.

indicates a lever, forked at its upper end to make two arms 41, whichstraddle the valve casing, and are pivoted to it by thecentral bolt 42.There is a central opening in the lever which is occupied by a bolt 44.This bolt at its upper end is rigidly secured to the valve disk 30. Atits lower end, the bolt is reduced in diameter, and slidably seatswithin a sleeve 46, carried by the lever. Surrounding the bolt andsleeve is a compression spring 47, which bears against the bottom of thelever and the under side of the disk 30. The lower end of the springoccupies a socket 48 in the lever, as shown in Fig. 3, while above thissocket, the lever is open toward each end of the casing.

From the construction described, it will be apparent that the spring isadapted to hold the disk 30 firmly on the annular seat and maintain thevalve closed. Furthermore, that when the lever is swung on its pivot 42,the disk is tipped away from its seat, opening the valve. This swingingtips the spring out of the line between the socket 48 and the pivot 42,and thus the spring acting ofi center tends to'hold the lever in thetipped position. This is illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a suitable ground device, claimed in my priorapplication, No. 628832, filed May 22nd, 1911, with which the presentvehicle mechanism may cooperate. That ground device consists of astationary ramp 50, located parallel with the track, and a shortdistance outside of one of the rails, and a movable ramp, comprising twobars 51 and 52, hinged together and located outside of the stationaryramp and some distance in advance thereof. The bar 52 is slidably guidedat its free end, while the bar 51 is a rock "arm, rigid on a rock shaft53, which is operated by a suitable lever 54. Accordingly, thestationary ramp always presents a peak, whereas the movable ramp maypresent a peak, as shown in Fig. 4, or maybe moved to lower the hingepoint, so that the arms 51 and 52 are substantially horizontal, in whichposition they are idle.

The ground'device described and the locomotive equipment are mutually solocated that as the vehicle travels past the ground device, the lever 40engages the stationary ramp 50, and is swung by it into the positionshown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. This opens the air valve. If the airvalve is allowed to remain open, the brake is applied or the dangersignal given. If, however, the movable ramp is in the up position, asshown in Fig. 4, vehicle mechanism is actuated thereby to restore thelever 40 to normal position and close the valve before the brakeapplication or danger signal has become ef fective. This re-settingmechanism will now be described.

Secured to a rock shaft 60, journaled in casing 10, is an arm 61, whichis designed to engage and be operated by the ramp bar 51. Rigid on thisrock shaft within the easing is an arm 62, which has a rounded clownwardend 63, overhanging an arm 49 of the lever 40. This arm is composed ofan extension from a cross member 45, secured to the arms 41. The arms41, cross members 45 and projections 49, may be one integral piece withthe lever 40, and form a sort of yoke, or skeleton socket, looselysurrounding the valve casing. Then the lever 61 engages the ramp 51, thelever 62 is swung downwardly into the position shown in dotted lines inFig. 1, and the rounded end 63 then comes into a depression in the upperface of the arm 49, and swings that arm downwardly, thus returning thelever 40 to normal position, where it is retained by the spring 44. Assoon as the arm 61 clears the movable ramp, a spring 66 restores thearms 61 and 62 to normal position.

From the above description, it will be apparent that whenever a grounddevice is passed, the lever 40 is swung by the ramp 50 to open thevalve; that if the movable ramp is down, the valve remains open, butthat if the movable ramp is up, the valve is closed before there is timefor the brake to be applied or the signal to be given.

The operation so far described relates to forward movement of thevehicle. On rearward movement, any engagement of the lever 61 with theramp bar 52 simply raises the lever 62 idly; then the engagement of thelever 40 with the ramp 50 opens the valve, but the same is immediatelyrestored by a lever 71 engaging the stationary ramp and forcing downwardan arm 72, so that the rounded end 7 3 thereof engages an arm 43 of thelever 40,-and restores the lever and closes the valve similar to therestoration herein described. The levers 71 and 72 constitute a bellcrank pivoted at aspring 76, restores this bell crank when its arm 71clears the ramp. To prevent any possibility of the lever 40 bouncingaway from its open position when the train moves rapidly forward acrossthe ramp, I provide a detent adapted to hold it in that position. Thisdetent as shown consists of a pair of plungers 80, mounted in sockets inthe lower end of the lever 40, and pressed outwardly by springs 81 inthe sockets behind the plungers. These plungers are adapted to seat indepressions made at the proper points in the side walls 13 and 14 of thecasing.

I claim,

1. The combination of a valve casing, a closure therefor, an operatinglever pivoted adjacent the closure and connected thereto and adapted tobe laterally swung to open the closure, and a spring connected at oneend with the lever and at the other end with the closure and adapted tobe laterally moved by the lever, said spring adapted to hold the closureagainst the valve casing when the lever is normal and adapted to holdthe lever tipped when in a tipped position.

2. The combination of a valve casing having an opening, a valve diskadapted to close the opening, a pivoted lever adapted to tip the valvedisk by a movement in either direction from normal, a rod connected atone end to the disk and at the other end slidably connected to the freeend of the lever, and a spring tending to press the disk against thevalve casing.

3. The combination of a valve casing having an annular seat, a valvedisk adapted to close against said seat, a lever pivoted adjacent to thevalve seat adapted to tip the valve disk by a movement in eitherdirection from normal, a rod rigidly connected with the valve disk andextending in the same general direction with the lever and slidablyconnected therewith at its front end, and a spring surrounding the rodand compressing against the disk.

4. The combination of a valve casing, having an annular face, surroundedby a recess, a closing disk, adapted to seat on said face, and having anannular rib adapted to occupy the recess, a rod projecting from saiddisk, and adapted to move one side of the disk away from its seat, alever pivoted adjacent to the valve casing and connected with the rod.and a spring surrounding the rod and tending to seat the disk.

5. The combination of a valve casing having an opening, a forked leverextending onto opposite sides of the casing and pivoted thereto, aclosure for the open end of the valve casing, a rod connecting the samewith the lever, and a spring surrounding of a rod secured j and at itsother end has a ing the rod and pressing the closure against the casing,the rod and spring occupying an opening in the lever.

6. The combination of a valve casing having an open end, a leverpivotally mounted adjacent to the casing and having a laterallyprojecting arm, a closure for the open end of the valve, a rod rigidwith the same and connected to the lever whereby the closure is tippedfrom the seat when the lever is swung, and mechanism adapted to engagethe projecting arm to restore the lever and closure.

7 The combination of a valve casing having an opening, a bifurcatedlever adapted to straddle the valve casing and pivoted thereto, andhaving arms projecting at opposite sides of the casing, a pair ofindependent members adapted to engage said arms to restore the leverwhen displaced, a closure for the valve, and a connection between thesame and the lever.

8. The combination of a valve casing having an opening, a bifurcatedlever adapted to straddle the valve casing and pivoted thereto, andhaving arms projecting at opposite sides of the casing, a pair ofindependent members adapted to engage said arms to re- 7 store the leverwhen displaced, a closure for the valve, and a connection between thesame and the lever, said connection consistto the closure and slid ablyconnected with the lever, and a spring surrounding the .rod and adaptedto press the closure toward its seat.

9. The combination of a valve casing, having an open end, a leverpivoted above said open end, and having a laterally projecting arm, aclosure for the valve, a rod connected therewith and slidably connectedwith the lever, a compression spring surrounding the rod and adapted tohold the closure against the valve when the lever is in normal position,and tending to hold the lever in a tipped position after being tipped,and a restoring device adapted to act on the arm to return the lever andclosure.

10. In a device of the character described, the combination of a valvecasing having a seat, a forked lever extending onto opposite sides ofthe casing and pivoted on it, a valve disk adapted to cooperate with theseat and having a projecting rod which extends in the general directionof the lever sliding engagement therewith, and a spring tending to seatthe valve 11. In a device of the character described, the combination ofa valve casing having a seat, a forked lever extending onto oppositesides of the casing and pivoted to it, a

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe valve disk adapted to cooperate with the seat and having aprojecting rod which extends in the general direction of the lever andat its other end has a sliding engagement therewith, and a helicalcompression spring surrounding the rod.

12. The combination of a valve casing having a valve seat, a leverpivoted to the casing and having laterally projecting arms, a valve diskadapted to seat on the valve seat, a rod projecting from said valve diskin the general direction of the lever and connected at its other endwith the lever near its free end, said lever adapted to be swung to openthe valve, and separate means adapted to engage each of the laterallyprojecting arms to restore the lever to normal position.

13. The combination of a valve seat, a T- shaped lever pivoted at thejunction of its arms, a disk for closing the valve, a rod securedthereto and connected with the lever near its free end, said leveradapted to be swung to open the valve, and separate means adapted toengage each of the laterally projecting arms to restore the lever tonormal position.

14. The combination of a valve casing, a bifurcated T-shaped leverstraddling the casing and pivoted thereto adjacent to the junction ofthe arms of the lever, said casing having a valve seat between the sidesof the lever, a closure for the valve, and a connection between the sameand said lever.

15. The combination of a valve casing, a bifurcated T-shaped leverstraddling the casing and pivoted thereto adjacent to the junction ofthe arms of the lever, said casing having a valve seat between the sidesof the lever, a closure for the valve, a rod secured at one end to theclosure and at the other end movably connected with the lever, and ahelical compression spring surrounding the rod.

16. The combination of a valve casing, a bifurcated T-shaped leverstraddling the casing and pivoted thereto adjacent to the junction ofthe arms of the lever, said casing having a valve seat between the sidesof the lever, a closure for the valve, a connection between the same andsaid lever, and

' a pair of bell crank members on opposite sides of the casing adaptedto respectively engage the two sides of the T-head of the lever.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afl'ix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

ELMER M. JONES. Witnesses:

ALBERT H. BATES, DARWIN G. J ones.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

